Dr. Prester val Styversant
Name: Dianami Fukushu Sensei Alias: Doctor Prester val Styversant Age: 76 (Appears 40 due to medicinal alchemy and identity disguising surgery) Affiliations: The Twisted Hand. Taelarys Drug Trade, Ikoku Underground, The Defiant (customers), The Ninkyoudantai (enemy) Appearance: A grizzled long-faced man with cold aristocratic airs. He is typically seen wearing simple white robes which somehow remain unsoiled despite his frequent appearances in the Undercity. His thick grey hair is combed back, combined with his trim beard, it gives him the appearance of a venerable lion. His eyes are an unnerving jade green. His fingers are slender and talon-like, yet nimble. Personality: Cruel and cold beyond sane comprehension. His every word overflows with contempt for the listener. However, he is also reserved. His voice never raises above what necessity dictates. His smooth, energy efficient movements are predatory, perhaps even reptilian. He seems always on the verge of a berserk rage that never appears to manifest. He never makes threatening remarks, or promises retaliation for wrongs done against him. Why bother? He takes his revenge against world and everything on it with every conscious deed. History: The Dianami Family was ordered wiped from existence and the Imperial Histories of Ikoku for reasons, that unsurprisingly, are now forgotten. As far as the public is concerned, the Empire was successful in this. The Twisted Hand however marks it as a moment their dark cause gained a significant boost in membership. A full century later Fukushu was born. His horoscope was so alarming, The Five Dark Saints who ruled The Twisted Hand at the time gave serious consideration to burning him to death while he remained an infant. He was ultimately allowed to reach adulthood. The cult was relieved to find that, while he proved to be every bit the human abomination they’d anticipated, he was one ideally suited to their cause. He took quickly to the medical arts and proved himself incomparably loyal. Now he’s has taken the rank of Saint of Poison Water among the Five. In order to oversee and direct the progress of the Silent Cancer Conspiracy in the foreign land of Taelarys, he has cosmetically altered his face along with those of his subordinates to fit in among the barbarous scum. He is now posing as Prester val Styversant, a noblemen who was ‘removed’ by the conspiracy. Advantages: *Authority III (Common): Dark Saint of The Twisted Hand He is one of the five ruling elders who control the shadowy cult known as The Twisted Hand. Currently he only has access to the limited and thinly stretched personal sent with him to establish this distant foreign outpost, but the hand grows, and touches all things in time. *Martial Art I (Uncommon): Way of Spider’s Patience A martial style that emphasizes precision and finesse over speed or power. The goal of the style is to herd the opponent into a vulnerable position with a bewilderingly intricate series of feints and light jabs (a practice called “spinning the web”). It thrives against caution and artfulness, but can be easily overwhelmed by mindless brute force. -The variant taught to members of the Twisted Hand utilizes medical secretes to create a vile technique known as “Five Little Bites”. The practitioner nicks their victim with an acupuncture needle at five essential pressure points (ideally with such grace that the victim may fail to notice). This results in a cascading disruption in their flow of inner breath, manifesting as a debilitating sickness. *Medicine I (Common): Five Elements Harmony Method Not quite magic, not quite science. The healing arts of the Ikoku are based on the manipulation of five essential energies that flow through a living body (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood). The five proven techniques for accomplishing this are, incense, acupuncture, ingested chemical compounds, deep tissue massage, and surgery. [Click Here For More Detail] *Transcendent Hatred I (Uncommon) When all hope and joy are stripped from a human soul, a kind of warped enlightenment naturally follows. Such a person possesses a Killing Intent so extreme that it can be faintly detected even by those with limited spiritual sensitivity. For those with a cultivated third eye, the presence of such an aura is akin to a torturously foul stench. Effectively creating an astral bonfire, easy to find, but painful to look into. They are incredibly difficult to deceive and is impossible to implore upon their sympathies, as they have none. However, such a state is highly unnatural, and comes at great cost. The unrelenting stress takes a terrible toll on both body and mind, requiring intensive self medication and near routine frustration venting acts of violence to stave off inevitable collapse. Story Elements *The Twisted Hand Legend has it that the first Five Dark Saints met at the funeral of a mutual friend. After much discussion of the arbitrary nature of dearly departed’s condition and of The Way, it was decided among them that the surest path to enlightenment was though utmost suffering. They called themselves The Order of the Twisted Hand, after the way their own figures warped from repeated displacement. At first the cult focused on rituals of self torment, but generations passed and a growing tenancy to export Blessed Agonies immerged and flourished. The modern Holy Mandate is to remake the material world into something that shames the Nether with it’s horror, thus encouraging all living souls into transcendence. *Silent Cancer Conspiracy The unenlightened crave temporal power and false transcendence above all things. The medical secrets of The Twisted Hand can provide both in abundance. Systematically figures of importance, true importance, middle men ignored by those of title and obeyed by those who toil, have been snatched up under cover of darkness. Their faces surgically stolen by agents of the Hand. In this way, waterfalls of information are stolen, rivers of resources are diverted, and lakes of simple folk are made depended on habit forming chemicals that only the Hand can provide. All goes well, but soon the time will for subtlety will come to a loud and gory end. *Power Toxin Pills One of The Twisted Hand’s most powerful tools. The secret of their making is known to only the most highly placed and paranoid members. A single dose grants incredible supernatural power for a full day. However, it is highly addictive. So much so that the process of detoxification is lethal in nearly all cases. Thus it is also a means of insuring loyalty.